(born 9 August 1954) is a Japanese composer, saxophonist and producer. He is known for his interpretations of the music of

J.S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suite ...

, in particular the " Cello Suites 1-6" re-arranged for and performed on

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

. Since 1981 he has composed, produced or arranged for artists as diverse as jazz vocalist

Helen Merrill Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milcetic; July 21, 1930) is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording ''Helen Merrill'' (with Clifford Brown), was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation ...

, composer

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, and DJ

Towa Tei is a Japanese artist, record producer, and DJ. Born in Yokohama, Japan, Towa debuted as a member of Deee-Lite, from the US label Elektra Records in 1990 and shot to fame via their international hit single, "Groove Is In the Heart". He made his s ...

. During this time he has lived in London, Paris and Tokyo.

Life and career

Early career

Shimizu’s career as a saxophone player took off in the 1970s. He released his first solo album, ''Get You'', in 1978 and from 1980 won a following with his experimental rock band Mariah, with whom he released five albums. Mariah’s final recording ''Utakata no Hibi'' (1983) weaved traditional Japanese festival rhythms with rock tempos and sounds. Over the same period Shimizu recorded solo albums including ''IQ 179'' (1981) and ''Kakashi'' (1982), which built on the alternative-music foundations set down by Mariah. From these beginnings Shimizu’s delight in pushing boundaries is apparent in such projects as the satellite link-up performance of ''Bye Bye Kipling'' with

for a

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super hi ...

happening (1986), or his enigmatic, solo “live installation” as a ''Human Cuckoo Clock'' in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

(2002).

The Saxophonettes I

In 1983, he created the Yasuaki Shimizu & Saxophonettes project—initially a one-man band—which has since become the main focus of his recording activities. His first recording as the Saxophonettes was ''L'Automne à Pékin'' (1983), a tribute to the

Golden Age of Hollywood Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

: classic soundtrack-flavored tunes rendered with a combination of lush yet minimal orchestration and layered electronic sounds laid over reggae bass and drums. This was followed by ''Stardust'' (1985), ''Latin'' (1991) and ''Time and Again'' (1993); the latter revisiting the textures of ''L'Automne à Pékin'' with original compositions highlighting Shimizu’s orchestral arrangements and his tenor saxophone. The Saxophonettes project released Shimizu’s landmark ''Cello Suites'' albums in 1996 (nos 1-3) and 1999 (nos 4-6). These were reissued in 2007 as a two-disc set (nos 1-6).

Europe

From 1985 through 1991 Shimizu divided his time between

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, making his contribution to the multicultural and re-energized European music scene by recording, collaborating and performing with various international artists. His experiences over this period also gave him an altogether new perspective on his own musical roots. He made three albums: ''Subliminal'' (1987) with French producer

Martin Meissonnier Martin Meissonnier is a French musician, producer, journalist, and filmmaker. He is known for his work with African pop musicians such as Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé among other diverse artists. His producing and film directing credits include ...

, ''Dementos'' (1988) with various British artists including ex-

Flying Lizards The Flying Lizards were an experimental English new wave band, formed in 1976. They are best known for their eccentric cover version of Barrett Strong's "Money", featuring Deborah Evans-Stickland on lead vocals, which reached the UK and US re ...

David Cunningham, and ''Aduna'' (1989) with Senegalese vocalist

Wasis Diop Wasis Diop (born 1950 in Dakar, Senegal) is a Senegalese musician of international renown, known for blending traditional Senegalese folk music with modern pop and jazz. Early life The son of a Senegalese high official and member of the Lebou eth ...

, whose 1994 album ''No Sant'' Shimizu co-produced.

Bach recordings

Shimizu has always paid meticulous attention to recording and studio techniques. In 1997 his mini-album ''Bach Box'' won the Best Production prize at the 39th annual

Japan Record Awards is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST a ...

. This recording, while expressing the highest respect for the baroque master, revisited Bach’s music with an audacious approach to form and flashes of wit, interweaving the original musical structures with treated voices and intermittent

sine wave A sine wave, sinusoidal wave, or just sinusoid is a curve, mathematical curve defined in terms of the ''sine'' trigonometric function, of which it is the graph of a function, graph. It is a type of continuous wave and also a Smoothness, smooth p ...

signals. On his ''Cello Suites'' projects Shimizu utilized unconventional acoustic environments, which he selected for their high degree of reverberation—an underground quarry, a mine in Japan, a palazzo in Italy—in order to “play the space” as a resonating instrument. This approach is also reflected in his "Bach-Saxophone-Space" concert series performed at such locations as Kodaiji Temple in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

in 1996 (Osaka Shinbun 6 Dec 1996), the Niitsu, Genichiro-Inokuma and

Mito Mito may refer to: Places *Mito, Ibaraki, capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan *Mito, Aichi, a Japanese town *Mito, Shimane, a Japanese town * Mitō, Yamaguchi, a Japanese town * Mito District, a district in the province of Concepción, Per ...

art museums between 2000 and 2003, and an underground car park in

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

(Mainichi Daily Sept 1997), Tokyo (1997).

The Saxophonettes II

In 2006, Shimizu made his playful one-man-band concept of the Saxophonettes into a real-life quintet, featuring Ryoko Egawa, Hirokazu Hayashida, Ryota Higashi and Hiroshi Suzuki in an ensemble of three

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

and two

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

s. Their album ''Pentatonica'' (2007) transcends genre limitations in a recording based on the five-note

pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancien ...

. Featuring new compositions as well as arrangements of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n traditional music, it displays Shimizu's individuality: from his choice of recording locations and painstaking approach to sound production, to the immediacy of live performance conveyed through the interplay between musicians. Beyond recording, the group has performed extensively in Japan as well as in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, with other tours in the works. At a performance in Tokyo (2010) commissioned by Sumida Triphony Hall, Shimizu reaffirmed his passion for

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

by premiering the world’s first saxophone/contrabass arrangement of Bach's ''

Goldberg Variations The ''Goldberg Variations'', BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have ...

'', adding four contrabasses to his saxophone quintet. He went on to hone the arrangement for release as the album ''Goldberg Variations'' in 2015.

Film and TV

Shimizu with his band Mariah had composed soundtracks for the anime series

The New Adventures of Gigantor is a 1980 Japanese Mecha Animated series produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, and a modern style remake of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's manga ''Tetsujin 28-go''. It was directed by Tetsuo Imazawa and produced by both Shigeru Akagawa and Toru Horikoshi. It a ...

in 1980/1981. He created music for Juliet Berto's ''Havre'' (1985), Oscar-winner

Yōjirō Takita Yōjirō Takita (滝田洋二郎 ''Takita Yōjirō'', born December 4, 1955) is a Japanese filmmaker. Takita received an Academy Awards, Oscar for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Best Foreign Language Film for his 2008 drama '' ...

’s ''We Are Not Alone'' (1993), three films by

Mitsuo Yanagimachi is a Japanese screenwriter and film director. Career Born in Namegata District, Ibaraki, Yanagimachi attended the Faculty of Law at Waseda University but began studying filmmaking. Working as a freelance assistant director after graduating, he s ...

including most recently ''Who's Camus Anyway?'' (2006), and contributed a piece to Peter Greenaway's ''Pillow Book'' (1996). He also wrote the score for the Oscar-nominated and award-winning documentary

Cutie and the Boxer ''Cutie and the Boxer'' is a 2013 American documentary film produced, shot, and directed by Zachary Heinzerling. The film focuses on the chaotic 40-year marriage of two artists, Noriko Shinohara and her husband the boxing painter Ushio, featu ...

(2013) by

Zachary Heinzerling Zach Heinzerling is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning director based in New York City. He graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a degree in Plan II Honors and Philosophy. Early life Zach grew up in Houston, T ...

. He has composed soundtracks for Hiroyuki Nakano’s art video ''Issey Miyake Dancing Pleats'' (1993), the feature film ''Stereo Future'' (2000) and in 2008 the two short films ''Ferris Wheel at 3:03:15 PM'', and ''Seven Samurai''. The album ''Music for Commercials'', a collection of his melodies aired as TV jingles, was released in 1987. He authored the “sound identity” for TV film channel Cinefil Imagica, then released an album of related tracks entitled ''Cinefil'' (2001). He wrote scores for a number TV dramas, plus a documentary and experimental film for the Japanese national broadcaster NHK TV. In 2007 NHK adopted his music for the educational series ''Mathematica II''. His 2014 soundtrack to the dramatization of Ryu Murakami's ''Gojūgo-sai kara no Harōraifu'' (''Finding Life After 55'') was later released as an album. A major event in 2008 saw Shimizu compose music for a one-off screening of the newly restored 1925 silent film ''Orochi'', a samurai “''

chambara , also commonly spelled "''chambara''", meaning "sword fighting" films,Hill (2002). denotes the Japanese film genre called samurai cinema in English and is roughly equivalent to Western and swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub-category of '' ...

''” sword-fighting drama. He performed this “live soundtrack” with the Saxophonettes and a 23-piece orchestra inside the grounds of

Meiji Shrine , is a Shinto shrine in Shibuya, Tokyo, that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. The shrine does not contain the emperor's grave, which is located at Fushimi-momoyama, south of Kyoto. History Af ...

in Tokyo. He has worked with iconic Japanese comedian and director

Hitoshi Matsumoto , commonly known as , is a Japanese film director and one of Japan's most popular comedians and TV hosts. He is one half of the comedy duo Downtown alongside Masatoshi Hamada. Like Hamada, Matsumoto was born and raised in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefe ...

, scoring the films ''Symbol'' (2009) and ''Scabbard Samurai'' (2011).

Collaborations

Shimizu’s partnerships with video, multimedia, and dance artists include commissions for Mao Kawaguchi’s video installations ''La Cite Délire'' (1987) and ''Niwa'' (1992), the performances by butoh dancer Goro Namerikawa ''Kioku no Gekijo'' (1990) and ''Flaneur vol. 5'' (1997), and the Simon James art installations ''Look Don't Touch'' (1998), and ''Chasing Light'' (2002). In 2004 he composed music for the sound installations featured in “Dream Garden Factory,” a landscape of six gardens with different themes at the Pacific Flora 2004 expo. Excerpts from the installation were released on the album ''Seventh Garden'' (2004). Between 2006 and 2007, his concerts with the Saxophonettes at venues in Tokyo and Osaka featured as guest artist the contemporary dancer Masako Yasumoto. In 2012 Shimizu collaborated with media artist

Masaki Fujihata is a Japanese sound, installation and interactive artist. He is a professor at Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education insti ...

on his project ''Voices of Aliveness'', a multimedia public recording, installation and performance for the Estuaire Biennale in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, France. The work won the Award of Distinction at the

Prix Ars Electronica The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria) ...

. As a composer-producer-arranger, he has collaborated with artists as diverse as Japanese enka balladeer Saburo Kitajima, composers

and

Koji Ueno Koji, Kōji, Kohji or Kouji may refer to: *Kōji (given name), a masculine Japanese given name *Kōji (Heian period) (康治), Japanese era, 1142–1144 *Kōji (Muromachi period) (弘治), Japanese era, 1555–1558 *Koji orange, a Japanese citrus ...

, jazz vocalists

and

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, guitarist

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, French pop singer

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, and DJ

. He has also contributed to recordings by trumpeter

Toshinori Kondo was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. Career Kondo was born in Ehime Prefecture. He attended Kyoto university in 1967, and became close friends with percussionist Tsuchitori Toshiyuki. In 1972 the pair left university, an ...

, DJ

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and others. Live collaborations include appearances with

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, Yosuke Yamashita,

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, Urban Sax, Manu Dibango, David Cunningham and

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. From 1991 to 1994 he teamed up with ex- YMO artist

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to produce the Tokyo Mura Mura Festival, presenting improbable line-ups of talents such as

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, and

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Discography

Yasuaki Shimizu

* ''Get You'' (1978) * ''Mariah'' (1979) * ''Far East Express'' (1979) * ''Berlin'' (1980) * ''IQ 179'' (1981) * ''Kakashi'' (1982) * ''Music for Commercials'' (1987) Compilation of jingles for TV commercials * ''Subliminal'' (1987) * ''Dementos'' (1988) * ''Aduna'' (1989) * ''Shadow of China'' (1990) Film soundtrack * ''Pao-Jiang-Hu'' (1995) Film documentary soundtrack * ''X'' (1996) Film soundtrack * ''Juvenile'' (2000) Film soundtrack * ''Cinefil'' (2001) Compilation from the film channel Cinefil Imagica * ''Stereo Future'' (2001) Film soundtrack (Various Artists: disc 1 Yasuaki Shimizu) * ''Seventh Garden'' (2004) Excerpts from Pacific Flora 2004: Dream Garden Factory sound installation * ''One Hundred'' (2009) Live recording with David Cunningham * ''Felt'' (2010) with Keichiro Shibuya * ''55-sai Kara no Hello Life '' (2014) TV drama soundtrack * ''SYO'' (2014) with

Hideo Yamaki is a Japanese jazz drummer and percussionist. He is known for being the long time drummer for Toshinori Kondo's band Kondo IMA. He also collaborated with Arto Lindsay, John Zorn, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Hosono Haruomi, Robert Palmer and Bill Laswell ...

, Gen Ogimi * ''Kiren'' (2022)

Yasuaki Shimizu & Saxophonettes

* ''L’Automne à Pekin'' (1983) * ''Stardust'' (1985) * ''Latin'' (1991) * ''Time and Again'' (1993) * ''Suite1'' (1996) * ''Cello Suites 1.2.3'' (1996) * ''From the Cello Suites'' (1996) * ''Bach Box'' (1997) Prize for Best Production, 39th

* ''Cello Suites 4.5.6'' (1999) * ''Cello Suites'' (2003) DVD-Audio * ''Pentatonica'' (2007) * ''Cello Suites'' (2007) ''Cello Suites 1.2.3'' and ''Cello Suites 4.5.6'' reissued as double album * ''Goldberg Variations'' (2015)

Mariah

* ''Yen Tricks'' (1980) * ''Auschwitz Dream'' (1981) * ''Marginal Love'' (1981) * ''Red Party'' (1982) * ''Utakata no Hibi'' (1983)

References

External links

*
Official YouTube channel

Interview with Red Bull Music Academy

Interview with zZounds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimizu, Yasuaki 1954 births Japanese film score composers Japanese male film score composers Japanese record producers Living people Musicians from Shizuoka Prefecture